Abstract: The invention relates to an optical amplifier system for amplifying laser pulses, including a solid amplifying medium capable of receiving a beam of laser pulses to be amplified and generating a beam of amplified laser pulses, and a means of reducing the energy stored in said optical amplifying medium by means of optical pumping. According to the invention, said reducing means includes a continuous resonant cavity and a first optical separation means capable of sepaarating continuous resonant cavity into a common portion and a low arm, the common portion including an optical amplifying medium and the loss arm inlcuding an optical loss means, said optical separation means being capable of selectively directing a beam of pulses outside the optical path of said loss arm of the continuous resonant cavity, and of directing a continuous bean toward said loss arm of the continuous resonant cavity.

Abstract: A device for extending the lifetime of a frequency-converting non-linear optical system (19) subjected to the radiation of an intense laser beam includes two plates (2, 3) with flat and parallel surfaces angled on the beam and elements for transverse rotation of the plates (2, 3) suitable for changing the angle of inclination of the first plate in an angular range (i20±?i2) to move the incident beam relative to the optical system (19), while minimizing the amplitude of movement of the output beam (37, 47) on the angular inclination range (i20±?i2) of the first plate. The application of the device in a non-linear optical source including one or more non-linear crystals (1, 16) is also described.

Abstract: An apparatus includes a pulse conditioner and an amplifier. The pulse conditioner configured modifies a temporal intensity profile of an input laser pulse, thereby creating a conditioned laser pulse having conditioned temporal intensity profile with a misfit parameter, M, of less than 0.13, where: M 2 = ? [ ? ? ? 2 - ? ? Pfit ? 2 ] 2 ? ? t ? ? ? ? 4 ? ? t , where |?(t)|2 represents the pulse temporal intensity profile of the conditioned laser pulse and |?Pfit(t)|2 represents a parabolic fit of the conditioned laser pulse. The amplifier increases the power of the conditioned laser pulse creating an amplified laser pulse. In a method a temporal intensity profile of an input laser pulse having a pulse duration of at least 1 ps is modified to create a conditioned laser pulse, which is amplified to create an amplified laser pulse, which is temporally compressed to generate a compressed laser pulse having a compressed pulse duration less than the input pulse duration.

Abstract: A device for extending the lifetime of a frequency-converting non-linear optical system (19) subjected to the radiation of an intense laser beam includes two plates (2, 3) with flat and parallel surfaces angled on the beam and elements for transverse rotation of the plates (2, 3) suitable for changing the angle of inclination of the first plate in an angular range (i20±?i2) to move the incident beam relative to the optical system (19), while minimising the amplitude of movement of the output beam (37, 47) on the angular inclination range (i20±?i2) of the first plate. The application of the device in a non-linear optical source including one or more non-linear crystals (1, 16) is also described.

Abstract: The invention relates to a high-power fiberoptic laser device comprising at least one laser diode (1) capable of transmitting a pump wave, a triggered optical resonator (22) consisting of a first double-sheathed optical fiber (6), an optical amplifier consisting of a second double-sheathed optical fiber (10), first (33) and second (35) optical coupling means capable of coupling said pump wave onto at least one of the two optical fibers (6) and (10). According to the invention, at least one of the two fibers has a configuration according to which the pump wave coupled to this optical fiber (6) or (10) is partially absorbed, generating a residual pump wave which is coupled to the other optical fiber (6) or (10) by second optical coupling means, and said second optical fiber (10) has a length greater than that of the first optical fiber (6).

Abstract: A power fibre laser device includes a power laser diode emitting a pump wave, an optical resonator including fully reflective and partially reflective ends, an amplifying multimode optical fibre, and an optical element coupling the pump wave in the multimode optical fibre. The optical resonator includes at least one submodule consisting of a spatial filtering element and including an optical element having a definite position in the optical submodule so as to enable the optical submodule to reproduce, after a round trip of the laser beam, the amplitude and phase of the fundamental mode of the multimode optical fibre to the input or output face of the multimode optical fibre, whereby minimising losses in the fundamental mode, and enabling the optical submodule to filter the other modes, producing additional losses in the modes in the optical resonator, whereby minimising the number of laser modes that propagate in the optical resonator.

Abstract: A device producing laser pulses of durations smaller than 30 ns, and including along its internal optical axis: a laser resonator of optical length smaller than 2 m including two reflecting ends and incorporating an MPF photonic fiber pumped continuously by at least one pump wave with laser diodes, the laser medium being a medium where the laser wave is guided and has a gain with very weak signal greater than 10 per passage, the resonator also incorporating an optical modulator. The optical modulator may deflect the internal laser axis via an electric control along two stable directions, the first direction corresponding to an axis along which the internal laser beam undergoes sufficient losses to prevent the laser effect, the second direction corresponding to an axis along which the laser beam is reflected towards itself at least partially by an optical return element.

Abstract: The invention relates to a high-power fiberoptic laser device comprising at least one laser diode (1) capable of transmitting a pump wave, a triggered optical resonator (22) consisting of a first double-sheathed optical fiber (6), an optical amplifier consisting of a second double-sheathed optical fiber (10), first (33) and second (35) optical coupling means capable of coupling said pump wave onto at least one of the two optical fibers (6) and (10). According to the invention, at least one of the two fibers has a configuration according to which the pump wave coupled to this optical fiber (6) or (10) is partially absorbed, generating a residual pump wave which is coupled to the other optical fiber (6) or (10) by second optical coupling means, and said second optical fiber (10) has a length greater than that of the first optical fiber (6).

Abstract: A device producing laser pulses of durations smaller than 30 ns, and including along its internal optical axis: a laser resonator of optical length smaller than 2 m including two reflecting ends and incorporating an MPF photonic fibre pumped continuously by at least one pump wave with laser diodes, the laser medium being a medium where the laser wave is guided and has a gain with very weak signal greater than 10 per passage, the resonator also incorporating an optical modulator. The optical modulator may deflect the internal laser axis via an electric control along two stable directions, the first direction corresponding to an axis along which the internal laser beam undergoes sufficient losses to prevent the laser effect, the second direction corresponding to an axis along which the laser beam is reflected towards itself at least partially by an optical return element.

Abstract: A device for generating amplified laser pulses includes at least one pulse laser controlled by at least a switch unit transmitting a master laser beam spatially multiplexed into elementary laser beams which are amplified in parallel by at least two optical amplifiers, wherein each of the amplified elementary laser beams is directed towards a single focussing volume. Each optical amplifier includes a fibre with photon layers, at least one optical pumping unit laser diode producing at least one pump wave for longitudinally pumping the fibre and one element for focussing in the focussing volume the amplified beam generated by the fibre, the silica or glass elongated fibre including a doped core, the pumping of each optical amplifier is continuous and the generation of the amplified optical pulses is obtained directly by the pulse laser.